


Memento

by WonderfullyMistaken



Category: The Mortal Path
Genre: (kinda), Angst, Gen, Rated T for language, backstory speculation, drabble (ish)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 17:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14217888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderfullyMistaken/pseuds/WonderfullyMistaken
Summary: Memento: Something kept as a reminder of a person or event





	Memento

**Author's Note:**

> I’m two fics deep into writing and I seem to only be capable of writing angst related things. That certainly bodes well for the future.

He woke up alone in a cave with absolutely no idea of how he got there, He was still in his traveling clothes and to his relief he still had all of his items on his person so at least he knew he hadn’t been robbed. The other thing Taro realized was that he was cold, lost and confused.

He was used to the feeling.

* * *

Looking closely, the leather bracelet was old and worn, but not in the way that suggested it was tossed aside and forgotten, it was worn from _care_. It was frayed and coming apart at the ends where the bracelet would be tied; the old leather was gently worn and discolored in places. Either simply from age or from someone rubbing and fiddling with the edges and along the underside of the bracelet was a somewhat faded inscription in that read “until next time.” in small and deliberate handwriting.

When Taro looked at it he felt... _something_. He _knew_ this bracelet; he knew who it belonged to, who had worn it. He **knew** that he did from the very core of his being. ( _God’s be damned if he actually knew what that_ **_meant_** _._ ) So he did what he did best.

He shoved the bracelet in his pocket and decided to deal with it later.

* * *

Another thing Taro quickly realized and was able to add to his increasing list of facts he knew about himself, was that he absolutely **_hated_** the cold; with every gust of wind it felt like he was being cut into. The only thing that offered any sort of relief from the cold was his cloak. Walking briskly besides his two new companions Taro wrapped his cloak tightly around himself, focusing on the faint radiating warmth coming from where the leather bracelet was safely tucked away.

That was odd, but it wasn’t anywhere close to being the strangest thing that had happened to him in the last twenty-four hours, so instead of questioning it too much, Taro simply continued to walk forwards savoring the small amount of protection and warmth against the cold, bitter wind.

* * *

Taro was out of his element.

On a good day he could schmooze and swindle with the best of them, it had quickly become a necessity for him but being dropped into the middle of a party filled with high class people, where even the inner circle seemed to have an inner circle.

That made him nervous.

Usually the job was easy, he’d dress up as fancy as he could manage and then act loud and obnoxious until he got some poor saps attention, he’d get the target to come to _him_ , but here....

Here where the wine he’d just downed was probably worth more than all money he’d panned or swindled from people over the last few months and he was certain that the gold centerpieces that dotted the tables around him were made from _actual gold_. Here **everyone** was loud, colorful and obnoxious.

Now here he was talking to some stranger he'd  _somehow_ managed to get the attention of named Joxas ( _Oh gods he hoped it was Joxas._ ) making up some bullshit on the fly about a far too distant father that cared far too much about his love life, he was pulled out of the panic of keeping his story straight by a bewildered laugh from Joxas.

( _Wait- maybe it was Roxas-Shit maybe he shouldn’t have drank that wine so fast after all.)_

“That’s an odd way of- did he _actually_ say that to you?”

The question from Joxas caught him off guard momentarily as his mind reeled trying to connect the words to a memory just out of reach ( _a feeling that was becoming all too familiar_ ) He quickly laughed in response and launched into some speech about just how far his father was removed from society and his son.

As he continued his conversation with Joxas mentioning his _highly_ influential father he felt a swell of anger rise from his chest, apparently who ever his father actually _was_. He apparently did actually have some unresolved issues there- and while that was _definitely_ good to know, whatever those emotions meant exactly was going to have to be a problem for future Taro to deal with.

_(Or would it have technically been a problem for past Taro? Fuck if he knew at this point.)_

* * *

He kept going back to the bracelet.

It was ridiculous really, that he was focusing so much on this small accessory, It wasn't even that well made. Yet here he was holding it between his thumb and forefinger staring at it intently like at any moment it would have the answers to all the questions he had.

( _of course it wouldn't answer any of them, because it’s a_ **_fucking_ ** _bracelet and honestly if his bracelet started talking to him Taro probably had other issues he needed to deal with._ )

That didn’t change the fact that bracelet was the first thing that had felt _real_ to him, it was the first thing he’d found that was concrete, the first thing that wasn’t a memory of a memory. It was meant to tell him _something_ , he was sure of it.

He just needed to **_remember_**.

**Author's Note:**

> I re-listened to the first few episodes of The Mortal Path and the idea of an amnesiac Taro got into my head and I just had to run with it.


End file.
